Aladdin Systems has announced a possible merger deal with Activeworlds Corp. Aladdin Systems is the maker of the venerable Mac compression utility known as Stuffit, which is better known to many Mac users as Stuffit Deluxe or Stuffit Expander. Activeworlds is a maker of online 3D technology that allows users to "enter, move about and interact with others in a computer- generated, three-dimensional virtual environment using the Internet."

Activeworlds had revenues of US$491 thousand in fiscal 2001, with a loss of US$2.3 million. The year before that, the company lost US$105 thousand on higher revenues. Activeworlds is a publicly traded corporation, with the last trade occurring on May 3rd (last Friday) at a price of a nickel per share. As part of the proposed merger, Activeworlds would perform a reverse stock split, "which is deemed by the parties to be sufficient to maintain a stock price of at least $1.25 per share for a minimum time sufficient to meet the continued NASDAQ SmallCap listing criteria." At Fridayis closing price, that would be a reverse split of 25-to-1.

Aladdin Systems is also a publicly traded company. The companyis stock is up 33% today, and is currently trading at .40 a share, a gain of .10.

The deal, according to Aladdin, would have Activeworlds as the "surviving" company, meaning that Aladdin as an entity would cease to exist. From the Aladdin Systems press release:

Aladdin Systems Holdings, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ALHI) and Activeworlds Corp. (Nasdaq: AWLD) announced Friday that they have entered into a letter of intent regarding a non-binding proposal pursuant to which Aladdin would merge into Activeworlds, which would survive the merger, and Aladdinis outstanding common stock immediately prior to the merger would, as a result of the merger, be exchanged into such amount of Activeworlds common stock representing, subject to certain adjustments, 60% of Activeworldsi outstanding common stock immediately after the merger.

Consummation of the merger is subject to numerous conditions, including the execution of a definitive merger agreement. There is no assurance that a definitive merger agreement providing for the merger and other transactions contemplated by the letter of intent will be executed or that the merger will occur, or that Activeworldsi common stock will not be delisted from trading on The Nasdaq SmallCap Market.

The Activeworlds(TM) browser is a small 1 megabyte download and has been downloaded by more than 1.5 million users worldwide. Through the technologyis scalable capacity, Activeworlds users have placed more than 100 million objects in Activeworlds(TM) largest world Alphaworld, whose virtual land space is larger than the state of California. Some uses for the software include: online training and education, Web site development, e-commerce and entertainment. Clients from a wide spectrum of activities, such as Boeing, Siemens, Cornell, and many more are currently using Activeworlds technology.

You can find more information about Aladdin Systems and Activeworlds Corp. at the companiesi respective Web sites. There has been no word from either company on how Aladdinis current Mac offerings would be effected by the merger.